Smilin' Jack: Seattle Sunday

Or - A Cuban Rueben . . . Wha . . . !?!?!

It's a good thing I checked the internet this morning. You see, we had planned to go down to the CenturyLink Stadium to catch some of the pre-game excitement as the crowds arrived for the game.

And it's a good thing I did because the Seahawks were playing the Eagles . . . just not in Seattle. Nope, the game was being played in Philly. Hahahaha, I had thought they were home but it turns out, for maybe the first (Trillionth) time, I was wrong.

What to do?

What the heck, we were geared up to go downtown and it wasn't scheduled to rain so we saddled up and headed downtown anyway. The idea being, my idea, BTW, that we'd find a sports bar and watch the first part of the game there. Plus, we'd get a chance to get out, get some exercise and see some more of this beautiful city.

Sooooo, off we went . . . after a couple of selfies.

Getting Ready to Go Selfie!!

And when we walked out, Carol saw her pigeon, Angel, sitting up high on a wire across the street.

Bird On A Wire!!

She and her buds were waiting for us to unass the area so they could go back to what they do best . . . Eating.

So, uh, you leavin' anytime soon?

As we walked down Renton Avenue, we found that they have finally started on the new housing development next to the Baptist Church that has been in the works for the past 2+ years. It's been a long time since they announced their intention to build on this lot. A long time.

I would walk along this route on my way home from work and always, I couldn't help it, I would get the heebie-jeebies walking past these steps. Mind you, they were covered with overhanging trees and bushes and brambles and . . . take my word for it, it was creepy, especially in the dark.

Hahaha, it was like when I was little and after watching a scary movie like Godzilla, The House on Haunted Hill or The Blob, I would walk down the middle of Cohassett Street until I got home. I'd get the same creepy feeling and my step would quicken and I would keep a very wary eye on the steps even looking over my shoulder until I was well beyond them.

Twarn't rational, but it was real.

Hahahaha, first time I ever walked up the stairs and into the lot. They had to rip out a lot of shrubbery and trees.

And, we made it to the Link Station at Othello. Waiting for the Magic Carpet Ride to The Emerald City.

Just not this one. It's the Southbound train going to the Airport.

But the train did serve to allow us to get a . . .

Link Train Window Reflected Selfie!!

And just like that, we were downtown getting off at the Pioneer Square Station and emerging onto Yesler Way. As we came up to street level, we could look down 2d Avenue and see the CenturyLink Stadium in the distance.

Walking a bit further, I got this shot of 2d Avenue. It's a lovely area of town but, unfortunately, this part is heavily populated with the Valued Homeless. They've taken over Prefontaine Place and the small park across the street from the Link.

So you look one way and you can see CenturyLink and then, if you look the other way up 2d Avenue, you can see the Space Needle sticking its head up above the buildings.

Photo Safety Tip: It helps, when taking these pictures, to ensure you've got the light. Hahaha, people can get a wee bit impatient to any delay and a way lot more eager to use their horns in the city.

The corner of Yesler Way and Occidental. I get a kick out of these old buildings. I really like the three different styles in these buildings sitting side by side. The one on the end, the last red brick building, is the Merchant's Cafe, the oldest operating restaurant in Seattle.

Carol and I are wondering if the broken window, see the big sheet of plywood in the first window to the right of the doors, was broken by some of the Ferguson rioters. They're always a fun lot.

FYI, these buildings are right across the street from the Sinking Ship Parking Lot. It's an (in)famous parking lot that replaced a beautiful old Flat Iron building. It must be seen to be appreciated. More on it later.

I shot this a little further down Yesler Way. A zoom lens helps in sooooooo many different ways. It's not often a street has its own piece of history, but Yesler Way does. This may sound familiar but, tough toenails, you'll enjoy it.

The street was created because of Henry Yesler's sawmill down on Elliott Bay. Originally it was called Mill Street the pioneers being a practical people when it came to naming streets. Quite unlike the fine folks in El Paso who once used the current PGA Tour roster to name their streets after. Honest!! There's a Lee Trevino and a Arnold Palmer . . . they even once used the names of all the astronauts for a subdivision of streets. But let me get back to my original topic . . . Yesler Way was originally called Mill Street because it was created to serve the Mill on Elliott Bay.

Whew!!

Moving on, the logs, which were cut further up the hills, were dragged down Yesler Way giving it the nickname 'Skid Road.'

Early on in Seattle's history, Yesler Way became the moral divide that separated the southern vice district of saloons and brothels from the more respectable areas to the north. It was The Reverend Mark Matthews, a fiery crusading reformer and prohibitionist who popularized the phrase Skid Road, or, Skid Row, in the 1920s to dramatize the sinful ways of life south of Yesler Way.

The Reverend Mark Matthews was a huge influence in the early history of the city, in fact, there is a statue of him in Denny Park. He was a fierce fighter against Police corruption and for social services. In line with his progressive leanings, Matthews was also an advocate for the Temperance Movement. He railed against drinking and the other vices that accompanied the Devil Water.

He is quoted as saying about alcohol, 'The saloon is the most fiendish, corrupt, hell-soaked institution that every crawled out of the slime of the eternal pit . . . (Hmmmm, evidently, he never had the pleasure to attend a meeting of the Democratic National Committee) It takes your sweet innocent daughter, robs her of her virtue and transforms her into a brazen, wanton harlot . . . It is the open sore of this land' Unusually for a prohibitionist, Matthews also opposed women's suffrage. Not to miss anybody, he also supported limitations on the immigration of Asians. He was an all around sorta guy.

Oh, if Ol' M&M were here today. He'd have a cow . . . then he'd have a stiff drink.

And just a quick change of view and there's the Pergola all decked out in Christmas finery. Oh, and can you see that little elf down there to the left under the pergola? The one with the red pants, green jacket and white beard? He was belting out something . . . I think he thought it was Christmasy but, it sorta missed the mark.

Looking back up Yesler towards the Flatiron Building created by the intersection of Terrance Street and Yesler Way. Another example of great architecture complimented by the colorful trees and the old-fashioned street lamps.

Love to have the apartment on top of that building.

Hahaha, one of my Happy Accidents. Interesting perspective, eh? I've had plenty of opportunities to shoot the world as seen reflected in puddles of water while I've lived in Seattle and I got another one today near Pioneer Square.

I've shot that building before and caught that special yellow color and now I got it in a puddle. FYI, I shot this and had to 'turn' the picture upside down to get it to make sense. If you turn your computer over and then look at this picture you'll see it as it was originally shot.

I like the perspective you get of the car on the right. It's like you're down, beneath the car. Hahaha, liking those reflections.

Merry Christmas!!

Even Pioneer Square has a Christmas Tree!!

No, Virginia, it is NOT a Holiday Tree. Silly PC girl.

We continued on down First Avenue heading towards the general direction of the CenturyLink Stadium.

The State Hotel preserved a sign from its days as a Skid Row flophouse. It was one of the first buildings completed after the Great Fire and was, for a while, headquarters for a thriving brothel.

A lazy semi-sunny Sunday afternoon along First Avenue.

I liked the juxtaposition of this Rug Gallery with its exotic and foreign rugs against the Old-Time customs of hanging garlands of boughs from a fir tree festooned with ribbons. Very Victorian against a little bit of Persia right here in the Emerald City.

It's still a colorful district. The J&M Cafe and Cardroom . . . plus a bar stuck in there somewhere. A lot of the former brothels/hotels are now used for Valued Homeless housing.

There's the Central. Established in 1892, it lays claim to being the oldest saloon in Seattle. Its classic style mahogany bar has survived earthquakes, prohibition and over a hundred years of patronage. It claims to still be a haven for the hungry and the parched.

It looks like it has a lot of character, still.

Fireworks is a store that sells . . . a lot of different things. And by different I'm talking a very eclectic selection of things that you wouldn't expect to see at your local Wally or even a Target. Like these Christmas items on sale at the downtown store.

It's fun to look at. I think its a lot of fun to check out the store windows. They do a bang-up job of decorating them for the shopping public.

And they provided us a chance for a . . .

Fireworks Door Reflected Selfie!!

. . . a right jolly old elf,

Fun Facts: A Visit from St. Nicholas, more commonly known as The Night Before Christmas, was first published anonymously in 1823. It was later acknowledged as having been written by Clement Clarke Moore in 1837.

The poem, which has been called arguably the best-known verses ever written by an American, is largely responsible for most of the conceptions of Santa Claus from the mid-nineteenth century to today. Prior to the poem, American ideas about St. Nicholas and other Christmastide visitors varied considerably.

According to legend, A Visit was composed by Moore on a snowy winter's day during a shopping trip on a sleigh. His inspiration for the character of St. Nick was a local Dutch handyman as well as the historical St. Nicholas. While Moore originated many of the features that are still associated with santa Claus today, he borrowed other aspects such as the names of the reindeer.

The poem was first published anonymously in the Troy, New York, Sentinel on December 23, 1823, having been sent there by a friend of Moore, and was reprinted frequently thereafter with no name attached. It was first attributed in print to Moore in 1837. Moore had a reputation as an erudite professor and had not wished at first to be connected with the unscholarly verse. He finally included it in the anthology at the insistence of his children, for whom he had originally written the piece.

Ho, Ho, Ho!!

From the Spritely Old Elf to this, a life-saving idea rendered into art.

Whenever I see a lighthouse, I think of my daughter, Michelle, who is an avid Lighthouser. There's a large number of folks who are, like Michelle, Lighthouse aficionados. They have a web site, lighthousefriends.com, a page for visiting lighthouses on Trip Advisor and they even got the United States Senate to officially recognize them by passing a unanimous resolution declaring August 7 as National Lighthouse and Lighthouse Preservation Day.

This one's for you, Michelle!!

This corner was once was a general store operated by Ol' Doc Maynard himself. It was also the site of Seattle's first hospital run by none other than Ol' Doc Maynard, too. The building has bay windows composed of wood framing, a controversial choice for post-fire (1889) Seattle. There was even a lawsuit in 1890 challenging the bay window construction as violating the new city fire codes.

The Bread of Life Mission has occupied the building since 1945.

I wasn't able to find out anything about Matilda herself and how she came to have a whole block named for her.

Bummer.

And they even have a Christmas Tree!!

Excellent!!

After wandering the streets of Seattle for some time now, I'm used to some unusual sights.

However, this one left me stumped. Flummoxed. Mystified.

There she was, on the sidewalk, getting outfitted in some kind of girdle with a rather young girl and two photographers looking on.

And a huge pair of yellow galoshes next to her.

If you've got any ideas as to the whys and the wherefores, I'd like to hear them.

I don't know.

Stick around long enough and you'll see just about everything on the mean streets.

Hahahahaha . . .

(In case you're wondering, if they're going to get dressed in that outfit on a street, I'm going to stand there and get a picture of it.)

You look Mah-valous, Dahling!!

But on with the more mundane things of life in The Emerald City with some stately but still fun Christmas decorations.

Look at the beauty and character in the brickwork of this building.

And then there was this. A chopped down tree . . . with its Christmas lights still attached. I looked up and down the street and didn't see any stumps. In fact, this part of Seattle was, remarkably, pretty much tree-free on the sidewalks. So that leads me to conclude that the 'crime' happened elsewhere and the body (?) was dropped here . . . with the lights still on.

Don't ask.

I don't know.

I've been enjoying taking pictures of, documenting if you will, the streets of Seattle. You get some of the best views looking down the side streets. This is either Main Street or Jackson.

As you look down, you can see where it goes right into Elliott Bay . . . and there, in the distance, is a cargo ship at anchor.

I'm sure enjoying getting reflected pictures . . . of me and of other things, too. It's silly fun, finding a window that might be suitable for a . . .

Downtown Store Window Reflected Selfie!!

And sometimes they come at you one after another!! And yet it is still fun to find a window, strike a pose, check the camera and take . . .

Yet Another Reflected Window Selfie!!

#itnevergetsold

The Triangle Pub. This quirky 'Flatiron' building was completed in 1910 and housed the Triangle Hotel and Bar. The bottom floor housed a bar until 1929, when it became a Western Union Branch Office, sending its messages to the Cherry Street headquarters via brass pneumatic tubes. Western Union departed in 1954 and the space resumed being a tavern. The hotel above the bar, which was a brothel from the 20s until the end of WWII, originally had 8 small rooms but now holds 2 apartments. It's said to have once been featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not as the smallest hotel west of the Rockies.

(I took this picture and the next one down on September 30, 2014. I included them here to give you an idea of the size and shape of this beautiful flatiron building.)

Why a triangle, though? Seattle's early surveyors tried to lay out the city's streets on a square grid plan. Unfortunately the varying angles of the shoreline created overlapping grids that converged at points to produce a series of triangular lots.

Fun Fact: In 1901, architect Daniel Turnham designed the first and most famous modern triangular building, the Flatiron Building of New York City. Named for its similarity to the hand-held irons of the time, Turnham's work spurred construction of similar buildings throughout the U.S.

Seattle got its version of the Flatiron Building as part of the 'Tidelands Real Estate Boom,' which featured the aggressive promotion of property created by the massive filling in of Seattle's swampy coastal areas. To promote business to this new property, real estate magnate Victor Hugo Smith paid for the construction of this trianglar building with eclectic Italianate features.

It worked, business boomed, and as a result, we got this beautiful building.

Here's the windows for the two apartments above the bar. Cool, eh?

A whole lotta living went on behind those windows.

Before we rounded the corner and started back up Occidental towards the city, I got one more shot of First Avenue.

And we came upon this tableau. This is at the north end of CenturyLink, the stadium is to the right and slightly behind us. There's the parking lot for the VIPS and the Richies. On the right is the campanile from the Seattle King Street AmTrak Station. Moving to the left is the huge glass building which I will discuss in detail in just a bit.

The tall dark building is the Columbia Center. The Columbia Center is the tallest skyscraper in Seattle and the tallest building in Washington. At 943,000 ft, it is currently the second tallest structure on the West Coast, after LA's 72-story U.S. Bank Tower.

The Center has the tallest public viewing area on the West Coast and west of the Mississippi. It has 76 stories of class-A office space above ground and seven stories of various use below ground, making it the building with the most stories west of the Mississippi. Construction on this building started in 1982 and finished in 1985.

Fun Fact: Columbia Center plays host to the largest firefighter competition in the world, the Scott Firefighter Stairclimb. About 1,900 firefighters from around the world yearly make the trek up 69 floors and 1,311 steps wearing their full firefighter gear. The event benefits the local chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

And, to the left of that is Smith Tower which once held the title of being the tallest building in Seattle that the Columbia Center now holds.

Now, Carol and I have seen this building every time we've come to CenturyLink. It's figured prominently in many of the pictures I've included in these blogs. But neither of us knew what it was although we did have our ideas.

Today, we answered that question!!

It's an apartment building!!

Stadium Place

(Duh, it sorted named itself because of its location, didn't it!?!)

And it's so ritzy, they even have their own leasing agent . . .

The Wave!!

It's a great location. If you're into sports then this is where you want to live. Half the building has some primo views of the goings on during football season and then SafeCo Field is just on the other side of CenturyLink. EZ-PZ, right!?!

Right!! And if you're going to live here and enjoy the amenities AND the view, you're gonna pay for it, baby!!

Through your nose!!

A studio apartment . . . which is a real studio in every sense, i.e. small, is only $1,500 a month.

A two-bedroom, two and a half bath goes for a little under $6,000. Oh, and that two-bedroom has a living/entertainment area which is code for a large room with the kitchen, dining and living room all stuffed into it.

#expensivo

But if you can afford the studio and you're on the wrong side, you can still come up to the rooftop and enjoy the view . . . and the weather from the rooftop patio.

Hahaha, you've got to be a dedicated sports fan and have a pretty hefty paycheck to live here.

OK, back to reality. At least my reality, I don't know about yours. Here's a long view of Second Avenue.

And a closer detail of the same scene. I zoomed up on it to flatten it out and catch all the old-fashioned three-globe lamps along the Avenue. I do like that effect, that flattening of the objects in the picture.

Before we got too far up the road, we took a swing to the right and stopped by the Seattle King Street AmTrak Station.

It's a beautiful building and worth a visit anytime. And when we came in, there was a long line of folks waiting to board the Cascades Train heading south. I'm pretty sure it was the Cascades that Carol and I took on our trip down to Portland.

They kept the Christmas decorations to a minimum with this large tree being the centerpiece. I'm sure the station, which first opened its doors on May 10, 1906, has seen better.

It is a lovely tree but they've totally taken out any reference to the Reason for the Season. Very eco-friendly and non-secular . . . just right for the Liberal Enclave of Seattle.

It's a shame. I had the thought, as I stood there admiring its beauty and lamenting its obvious lack of any Christmas decoration that this tree would fit very well into a pagan celebration. Hahaha, the very thing that Christianity grew out of, so to speak.

The circle is almost complete.

Believe it or not, in 1965, they completely covered up this beautiful ceiling with a lower dropped-ceiling that hung 10 feet below the original.

Fortunately, in 2006, the city was able, with BNSF Rail, to purchase the station for $1 and began restoring it. They've done a great job of getting it back to its former greatness.

Coming up from the waiting room you come to a lamp lined open courtyard in front of the station on Jackson.

A perfect place for a picture.

And also for a look back at CenturyLink as the afternoon sun begins to set.

And while we were there we saw this oddly colored pigeon. Carol says this is the new 'in' color this year for fashion, etc. Better than the purple and gray of the other pigeons.

So we headed up 3rd Avenue and, while crossing it, I got this shot of Jackson Street going east towards Chinatown.

And we ran into a place we plan to visit in the near future AND got a. . .

Police Museum Reflected Window Selfie!!

Ok, this is me experimenting. I had a lot of opportunities to shoot reflections in windows; here's another example. I have the business painted on the window and then, to the immediate right, the reflection of a street scene.

Originally the picture included another window panel equally as large as this one. It was more of an open scene of the intersection with just one woman crossing it. I used a little artistic license to crop that out, ran it by Carol and got agreement so it was gone.

Maybe this is a bit more powerful cropped as it is with the blend of colors and the lone figure off to the side. Don't be afraid to crop when you're editing your pictures. In fact, I am finding that in a number of shots, I am shooting them and already seeing how I'll eventually crop them when I get home.

Hahaha, I'm seeing with a purpose . . . finally.

I've been particularly, sensitive? to the decorations, etc., being displayed for this Christmas Season. I am resenting the obvious relabeling of everything as Holiday this and Holiday that.

So I got a lot of pleasure out of seeing this creche. Simple and to the point. Hahaha, I need a reminder nearly every day. I really do.

Fun Fact: Saint Francis of Assisi is credited with creating the first nativity, or creche, scene in 1223 (a 'living' one) intending to cultivate the worship of Christ. He was inspired to do this by his recent visit to the Holy Land where he had been shown Jesus' traditional birthplace. The scene's popularity inspired communities throughout Catholic countries to stage similar pantomimes.

Thanks, Frankie!!

Looking down Main Street from 2nd Avenue. Remember, earlier we'd seen this same view from 1st Avenue. I don't know about you, but I'm enjoying these shots of the Mean Streets of Seattle. That's the Alaskan Way Viaduct in the background.

Coming up 2nd, were getting to the corner where the Smith Tower is and, coincidently, where the restaurant is where we will stop for lunch.

See those little white poles along the avenue in front of the Smith Tower? Those are for the wonderful bike lanes the city is foisting on us. More later.

Back to Yesler Way and a view down the street towards the entrance to the Bainbridge Island Ferry.

Look on the right, see the parking lot? That's the Sinking Ship parking lot. They knocked down the beautiful and stately Hotel Seattle, which was the third of three hotels located in Pioneer Square. It was built in 1890 from the ashes of the Great Seattle Fire and served as a hotel until early in the 20th Century. By the time the neighboring Smith Tower was built in 1914, the Seattle Hotel had become an office building.

Abandoned by 1961, the Hotel Seattle was torn down and replaced with a parking garage, derisively called the 'Sinking Ship' as part of the initial stages of an urban-renewal plan that would level all the old buildings in the district. That was as far as the plan went. The old hotel's demise kicked off a preservation movement which led to a revival of the Pioneer Square district. By 1970, with its buildings refurbished, a historic district area including the Square was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Here's what they knocked down for the Sinking Ship. The Hotel Seattle as seen in 1900. In the left front foreground you can just make out the edges of Pioneer Square.

And by now we were at our choice for lunch and to start it off, we took a . . .

Shawn O'Donnell's Door Reflected Selfie!!

This was a nice little restaurant located right next to the Smith Tower Lobby. It was clean, bright and airy and decorated just right with the requisite Irish paraphernalia.

And they had Harp beer.

The young guy that was running the bar and waiting the tables was friendly and quick. It was a good meal and a good experience. Oh, to the right there, that's the countdown clock to St. Patrick's Day.

Hahahaha, gotta prioritize, right!?!

Can't be an Irish Pub without some Guinness.

And this cute little Irish Lass (Although she's more of a German, we'll overlook that for now).

And this ol' rascal.

It was Seahawks Sunday and we were showing our colors!! Carol even had her Seahawk on.

Gooooo, 'Hawks!!

Hahaha, I like getting pictures of everything. This clock was only off a couple of minutes. I just wonder what all the other windows in the face of the clock are for.

Whoop!! Let's get lunch started!!

This is the first time I've had a Harp served in a Harp glass. Normally they just serve them up in a Guiness glass.

Classy, eh!?!

Carol is pretty predictable. It's either a Cheeseburger or . . . Fish 'N Chips. This time she waffled but eventually, deciding to live a bit dangerously and step on over to the wild side, she opted for the Fish 'N Chips.

Hahaha, OK, I admit it. I sorta wanted her to go for the Fish 'N Chips . . . because they had never-ending french fries and I was especially hungry.

I like that they served it up in faux newspaper . . . like they used to do in the Old Country. (Ireland, not Germany)

And me!?! I am as equally predictable.

If there's a Rueben on the menu then I will, 99.5% of the time go for the Rueben. Or a Patty Melt.

It's a weakness.

However, even though I was predictable, I did take a short hop on over to the wild side and I ordered a . . .

Cuban Rueben!!

Corned beef, ham, Dubliner Cheese, mustard and pickles. I don't get the Cuban link but, what the heck, it was good. Very good.The cheese was really good!!

Next time, though, I am getting the regular Rueben.

After I eat and before I leave, I always like to get some shots of the restaurant and so I wandered around with my camera and found this neat poster.

My son, Joe, collects things Coca-Cola and I was thinking of him when I got this shot. I'm sure he'd really like to have this.

And they had a Christmas Tree there!! Hoozah!!

Funny story, I was waiting for a picture on the TV that clearly showed the Seahawks playing when I took the picture of the Christmas Tree. I waited until I thought I had a good one where you could see they were Seahawks but, doggone it, I forgot that they were playing the Eagles and the Eagles were all in blue. They looked like Seahawks, fer cryin' out loud!!

The Seahawks, who won BTW, were wearing white jerseys.

Duh!!

Hahaha, caught her!! Playing with her phone again!!

Except I didn't realize that she had just taken my picture and was sending it to me.

Am I saying this a lot today?

Duh!!

When I saw this in the bar, I only read 'The reason I wake up', and I thought it was funny . . . and true and got the picture. When I got home and uploaded it I saw the whole sign.

Even better!!

Here's the exterior of Shawn O'Donnell's American Grill & Irish Pub.

True story, one of my good friends while I was teaching was a guy named Shawn O'Donnell. Hahaha, he was a Loopy, Loony Liberal but, other than that, a nice semi-intelligent guy.

Small world, eh?

You know I have an affinity for brick walls and I thought the light playing across this closed restaurant looked nice on it.

You can do a lot with brick. A lot.

This beautiful Art-Deco Style building from the 30s is on the corner of 2nd Avenue and James. It was a bank then but now it is home to Seattle Flowers, Seattle's Finest Florist since 1947.

Ah, the times, they have changed.

Just enjoying the sights of the city and the way the setting sun plays off the old buildings.

They have their winter plant pots out. I like how they change the pots with each seasons plants. And, yeah, they do have some cabbage planted in there.

Nicely done!!

Looking towards Elliott Bay along Cherry Street. You can see where they've put in the bike lanes and marked them out. This is a two-lane experiment in biking.

A soft serene street scene seen in Seattle.

Hey!!! There's the Social Security Administration Offices where I applied for my Social Security.

Ahhhh, finally!!

$$$$$

It was right there on the left hand side of the building around the fourth floor.

You can get an idea of how steep some of the hills are in Seattle from this picture.

And I was alert for other Christmas Trees. This one was in a bank.

One of my favorite buildings, window-wise, is SafeCo Center on Seneca and Second. Built in 1991, it is a 22-story office building.

But the windows, ah, the windows are great at reflecting.

Wouldn't be a trip downtown without a shot of a ferry crossing Elliott Bay would it?

And you, lucky you, get TWO of them!!

Love the zoom!!

Just an interesting presentation. I'm liking those reflections. Now to get better at recording them.

Same building, same reflected subject, but with a different position and angle. Makes a huge difference, doesn't it.

Another Seattle Street Scene.

Hahaha, I just realized, he's using the bike lane . . . correctly!! These guys in these taxi bikes are big on game days as they're busy ferrying folks back and forth from their cars to the stadium.

Merry Christmas!!

Another bank. For soulless money-grubbers, they do put up some mean Christmas Trees, don't they.

Looking down Union Street to the small park (?) in front of the Four Seasons Hotel Seattle.

Cross the street and you get a view of the Seattle Great Wheel.

And then we happened upon this window display for the Paper Hammer. Now the business, the Paper Hammer is part of the Seattle-based art book publishing company, Marquand Books. They've produced handmade art books for over two hundred art museums.

And they have a pretty nifty collection of old toys, too.

Pretty neat, eh? Can you see a couple of cut fingers with these toys?

Just one look at this and you know this is a way old game.

Here's the whole game. You put the ball in the cup and then push down and release the spring and, SCORE!! And the ball is on a string so that you never have to chase the ball again.

* Z * O * O * M *

Love the zoom feature. Also love the wide-angle, too.

Aw, heck, I love 'em all!!

When we got to Pike Street, it was busy!! In fact, the whole atmosphere changed. We'd enjoyed a leisurely and uncrowded stroll for several blocks and then as we turned up Pike, the whole scene changed and it was busy!!

And it stayed that way until we got on the link! It was like there were two different Seattles that day. It was really odd.

We had walked up from 2nd to 4th and then headed down toward the Link when I got this shot of the Star over Macy's.

And right across the street in the Westlake Park was the Christmas Carousel. It was doing good business, too. It was a nice afternoon in Seattle. No rain.

And a long shot of Mini Donuts. Looks better at night with the lights on, doesn't it.

Ah, finally, on the Link heading home.

Every so often, I'll get an environment picture that includes some of the people around me. It helps me understand where I've been and what it was like. Note the lady to the right. More later.

So we're sitting and resting and enjoying the ride when the Fare Enforcement folks get on at Stadium. She makes the announcement and so I pull out our Magic Carpet Passes . . . what a great deal!! Pay a $1.50 and ride all day both ways.

So we got ready to present our tickets and our passes but . . . we never had to.

This was the second time we were ready to be checked but the Fare Enforcement folks never got to us. Both times, they found someone that had somehow forgotten to purchase a ticket and so at the next stop, SODO, they got off the Link with them and never got to us.

They put these Fare Folks out sporadically to catch those scofflaws that don't pay. A lot of the time they won't even get all the way on the train as whoever didn't pay tries to pretend they were getting off at this station . . . they've learned and now when someone gets off they get off too and ask them for their ticket.

Oh, and they've also learned to have someone from Security with each Fare Enforcement Team. In the past, the two Fare Folks would just do their thing. Now they have the two Fare Folks and someone from Security with them.

Safer.

So we're riding along and I grabbed this snap shot of SafeCo Field and the Needle. It's a kick to come out of the Beacon Hill Tunnel and see the city off in the distance.

OK, remember this lady? After the young man was escorted off the train by the Fare Folks we, and by we, I mean Carol, struck up a conversation with this lady.

I can't even remember how it started, but start it did and we were off. We talked about the Link, Tacoma, the Sounder railroad, retirement and Seattle. It was great, pulling up a chair by this lady and just breezing along. It ended too soon as she got off at Beacon Hill. She was, I think, visiting from Tacoma and had left her little girl with her Mom for the afternoon. She was on her way to pick up her baby and then head on back to Tacoma.

And, for the very first time, ever, I was able to get her picture and give her . . .

. . . one of my new cards!!

So, for the very first time, we were able to use the card to briefly explain about the blog, get a picture and, big plus, get a new friend.

Hahahaha, they work!! They work!!

(Picture Dr. Frankenstein shouting, "It's alive!! It's alive!!" and insert my words and you'll get a small idea of how excited I was over this!! Lots of fun!!)